The application of solder paste onto a printed circuit board (PCB) or substrate is typically done by forcing solder paste through a screen or stencil onto the substrate by a squeegee. Afterwards, surface mounted components and/or leaded components are placed on the PCB and then reflowed in an oven. This method works well with larger discrete components and many surface mounted and leaded integrated circuits and chip carriers. With the trend towards smaller components and smaller pitch between leads in components, the screening process becomes more difficult. Furthermore, each time a new circuit design is required, a new stencil is required. The new stencil increases cost and cycle time in the solder paste deposition process. Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus for applying solder without a stencil which allows for easy manipulation of different circuit designs and accommodates the trend towards miniaturization and finer pitch between leads of integrated circuits.